The Special Liberty Project Creates a Healing Place for Veterans and their Families
By Meg Hale Brunton
After being a military wife and mother for sixteen years Jessica Merritt discovered she wanted to make a difference in the lives of veterans and their families. She and her husband Cory created the Special Liberty Project (SLP) to give back to individuals who have given so much for their country. “We really do therapy in a different way,” Jessica says of SLP’s process.
Jessica and Cory were high school sweethearts. After school, Jessica attended the University of Arizona where she studied to become a financial advisor while Cory joined the military and was stationed in San Diego, California. Since the two locations were only about a six-hour drive apart, they were able to see each other most weekends. They married in 2007.
Most military families are transferred every 2-3 years and have to start over completely with very little support. Jessica says her family was very fortunate to not have ever been relocated. They stayed in their home in San Diego for 21 years. Jessica acknowledges the difficulty most military spouses experience, and that “they don’t ask for help often enough.” She shares that Cory was deployed nine times during their marriage, and was even involved in a terrifying helicopter crash. “He’s been deployed for over half of our marriage, and it’s been really difficult,” Jessica admits.
With a background in financial planning, Jessica made smart choices with the family’s income and was able to purchase their homestead in Southern California where she also set up a farm. “Every time my husband would deploy, I would just go to my little farm. It really was such a healing experience,” she says.
One day in 2016, Cory got the idea to invite some veterans he knew through the Wounded Warrior Project to go hunting in the desert near their home. After they returned, Jessica received a grateful email from one of the soldier’s wives, saying that her husband had been “in a very dark place and that the event had saved his life.” Seeing the need for more events just like it, Jessica and Cory came up with the idea to start a non-profit that hosted several such events throughout the year. They called their organization the Special Liberty Project.
During their first year, they planned to host four events, and it turned into twelve instead. Cory was deployed again, and Jessica was left to organize everything on her own. Her first event was a turkey hunt, which she pulled off flawlessly with a little help from her kids and veteran volunteers. Jessica also noticed her kids interacting with the veterans at the event. Realizing how much they missed their dad, she recognized the veterans were helping to fill that void. This gave her the idea to start a series of events that matched up veterans with children of fallen soldiers. At these events called Gold Star Corps, veterans have the opportunity to connect with Gold Star kids and mentor them in “fatherly skills,” such as fishing and using tools.
At one of the events, Jessica noticed how military wives and mothers gathered together. This sparked the idea to begin hosting weekend retreats for Gold Star widows and mothers. At the first retreat, she was blown away by the way the women shared and connected. “What happened at that table exploded,” she says. “I decided this is what I wanted to do.”
The couple started looking for a place to host their events on a regular basis. After exhausting the real estate market in California and Arizona, they got the idea to build a retreat center on the East Coast while still hosting certain events on the West Coast. When they found their location in Franklin, North Carolina, Jessica knew it was a perfect fit. “This is home,” she recalls thinking when she saw the 30-acre property located on the border of the Nantahala National Forest. They built their own home and the retreat center there. “It’s euphoric living here. Everyone who stays with us is amazed!”
The SLP homebase officially opened in April 2020. “It was just absolutely phenomenal!” Jessica exclaims, adding there is something innately healing about WNC. “I’m so grateful for the support and to be part of this community,” she remarks. SLP hosts a four-day event every month where women stay in “glamping tents” and participate in a daily activity in three areas: physical exertion, emotional health, and learning a new skill. Jessica says that, even though they are working through tremendous grief and stress, it is one of her main goals to give her guests a relaxing, luxurious experience.
“There’s been so much creativity sparked and new interests and hobbies,” Jessica remarks, adding that never knows what activity will inspire growth and healing in an individual. SLP offers a variety of activities, such as hiking, equine therapy, pottery, massage, and tubing in nearby Deep Creek. Oftentimes, guests have been through too much trauma and so are reluctant to open up about themselves, so conventional therapy work is not always a good fit. “Not all people are comfortable sharing. There are some really terrible stories out there. Getting to where you can share that is huge,” Jessica explains.
All of SLP’s programs and retreats are hosted at no cost to the families who attend them. Despite the help they provide to veterans and their families, SLP receives no funding from the government and operates solely on sponsorships and private donations. “The hardest part of my job is raising money.” Jessica says they have an excellent program and a proven history – all they need now is financial support to help them make a greater impact. April 5th is Gold Star Spouses Day, and she hopes to see an increase in widow sponsorships during the month.
While running the retreats can be taxing, Jessica describes it as nothing short of profound, getting to witness her guests’ growth. She shares it has been extremely rewarding to see such a need for her business and to watch it grow organically. “The biggest gift you can get in life is to find your gift and give it away,” Jessica says. Through SLP, Jessica has definitely done just that, and more.
To learn more about the Special Liberty Project, visit their website: www.speciallibertyproject.org